Echuca - Port of Echuca Discovery Centre
Entry to the Port of Echuca Discovery Centre is free and includes access to a lot of interesting historical displays.
Echuca Wharf is an outstanding survivor of the booming Murray River trade of the late 1800s, which facilitated the rapid expansion of pastoralism and transformed the economies of the Victorian, New South Wales and South Australian colonies. The original wharf was constructed between 1864 and 1867.
In the late 1800s, Echuca was a grand transport hub. Paddlesteamers towing barges along the rivers hauled huge numbers of wool bales from the outlying stations to Echuca. The number of bales through the Port increased from 30,000 in 1867 to over 72,000 in 1875. At Echuca, the bales of wool were transferred from boat to train, then conveyed to the Port at Melbourne where they were loaded on to ships to make the long journey to England.
Port of Echuca Visitor Map
1. ENTRY TO ECHUCA WHARF & ECHUCA PADDLESTEAMERS
2. Port Museum
This area includes information panels, models of paddlesteamers, nostalgic display of postcards from the age of paddlesteamers, stained glass artwork "A Requiem for the Murray River", diorama "A Day in the Life of the Port", timber milling tools and wool trade display.
3. Rudders: Wander amongst beautifully preserved original rudders and discover the stories of the paddlesteamers they belonged to.
Each of the rudders displayed here has been removed from a paddlesteamer restored at the Port of Echuca Rudders wear more quickly than most other sections of the boat as they work against the water to steer the vessel.
Rudder of PS Canberra - Built at Milang, S.A. in 1912 as a fishing boat, and named to commemorate the founding of the national Capital, the Canberra was used as a cargo boat before being converted to a tourist vessel. The Canberra is a wooden vessel, with a capacity of 100 passengers. She became the first passenger vessel to operate permanently out of Echuca after arriving in 1966.
Rudder of the PS Pevensey - The PS Pevensey is named after the Pevensey sheep property on the Murrumbidgee River. With her barge, Ada, Pevensey collected bales of wool from Pevensey and other stations and brought them to the Echuca wharf. Pevensey could carry 815 bales of wool and a total of 2000 bales when barges were towed along behind. The last paddlestearner built on the Moama slipway in 1910, the PS Pevensey was tied up at Mildura and sank in the 1960s. She was refloated in 1968 and restoration commenced in 1973. This great 'Clydesdale of the Murray' became the first of the Port's vessels to return to her original place of work, this time carrying passengers instead of bales of wool.
Rudder of the PS Alexander Arbuthnot - The Alexander Arbuthnot (AA) was built at Koondrook in 1923. After sinking at her moorings in 1947, a group of dedicated volunteers from Shepparton raised her in 1972 and restored her over a five year period, By 1988 the upkeep of the restored vessel became too much for the volunteer group and she was sold to the Echuca City Council the following year. the AA was transported by road to the Port of Echuca, where further restoration was carried out. After 20 years out of the water, she was refloated from the Echuca East boat ramp in 1992. The AA was re-commissioned in December 1994, becoming the youngest boat to join the Port fleet and share the daily load of passengers with the PS Pevensey.
4. PS Success Hull Exhibit: Built in Moama in June 1877.
5. Log Winch & Slip: These original pieces of infrastructure were used by Evans Brothers' Sawmilll to haul logs up the riverbank from logging barges to be processed at the mill.
You can see the log slip where, with the help of the log winch, red gum logs were hauled from barges on the river to the sawmill.
Standing at approximately 4.3 metres high, the steam powered log winch was used by Evans Bros Sawmill to haul logs up the riverbank from barges at the downstream end of the mill. The log winch is one of the oldest surviving original pieces of equipment relating to early twentieth century red gum milling.
6. Sawmill: Formerly the Evans Brothers' Sawmill site. Visit the area to appreciate how timber was milled in the early 1900s.
Evans sawmill operated on this site for 60 years from 1924 to 1984. It was typical of the many sawmills operating on the banks of the Murray from the 1870s onwards.
Timber milling was a laborious process. Many of the early mills were sited in the forests to avoid the problem of transporting whole logs. Instead the millers were then faced with the problem of transporting the sawn timber!
Timber mills were established on the low banks around Echuca East to avoid the problem of hauling heavy logs up the river bank. Evans used a log slip and very strong winch for this purpose. The log slip winch dragged 6-7m long logs up the bank and onto a log trolley. The log trolley sat on a rail which ran between the log slip and the sawmill and was winched along the rails to the sawmill deck.
The barge moored on the river bank is the D26 Barge, an authentic outrigger logging barge - one of four that were towed by the PS Adelaide. It was built in 1926 by Charles Felshaw for Murray River Sawmill Company and was last used for work in 1954. During her working life PS Adelaide would travel upstream to Barmah twice a week towing the empty barges, which were loaded with logs for transporting back to Murray River Sawmill.
The D26 is a code name that has a meaning. The letter D is the fourth letter in the alphabet This means that this is the fourth barge that was built for the company. The number 26 represents the year the barge was built, 1926. Murray River Sawmill also built the A11, B22 and C24 barges.
Interesting fact: If the current was strong then barges such as the D26 were often untied and left to drift downstream full loaded. Traditionally logging barges had no rudders, so a chain dragging behind the barge was used to slow them down and keep them in the centre of the river.
Moama Slip To the left across the river there is the Moama Slipway. A slipway is a ramp on the riverbank used to move boats to and from the water for building and repair. Paddlesteamers, are slipped (removed from the water) every 2 years for inspection and repair. The Moama slip was as built in 1910.
Impulse Barge Wreck The hull that can be seen next to the slip is the Impulse Barge. The Impulse was built by CJ Wilson in Koondrook in 1885.
7. Steam Display: See original working steam engines and pumps and meet the engineers who operate them.
8. Earnshaw's Walkway (Ramp)
9. Rail Vans: Explore the inside of an original Breakdown & Guards Van. Listen to the stories of Echuca's links with rail.
10. Stairs to upper/lower wharf
11. PS Adelaide: Built in 1866, this 'Grand Old Lady' is the oldest wooden hulled paddlesteamer operating anywhere in the world.
Paddlesteamers and the River Trade - The Murray Darling river system was Australia's main artery of commerce in the late nineteenth century and the paddlesteamers its workhorses. Over 100 paddlesteamers, many of them built on the banks of the Murray, plied the waterways, towing barges laden with wool, wheat, timber and other goods from the forests and pastoral stations and delivering people and goods back again. Each paddlesteamer had its own character and story. Sadly, some lie where they sank in the mud of the Murray. Others have been restored and today carry tourists who wish to relive a part of the romance of the river trade, if only for a short while.
The Height of the River - The level of the Murray River system fluctuates enormously between spring and autumn. The river trade could only be carried out for a few months of the year known as 'the season' when the spring rains and melting snows raised the height of the river substantially. In years of drought or low rainfall, paddlesteamers could be caught up the river for a whole season or more.
12. Cargo Shed & Display Area
13. Stairs to upper/lower wharf
14. Payne's Walkway & Ramp Access
15. Ticket Box
16. Pedestrian/Rail Overpass: Reconstruction of the original footbridge of 1890, using original plans.
17. A2 Locomotive
18. Station Platform and Railway Siding
Meeting of the Whistles - This is where the whistles met, the site of the Port Station where goods were moved from paddlesteamer to steam engine. Echuca Wharf was a bustling, lively place at the centre of the trade between the outback and the Port of Melbourne and from there to the rest of the world.
The combination of river transport and the railway line that had connected Echuca to Melbourne in 1864 encouraged settlement of outback properties and made rural NSW, Queensland and central Victoria less remote. Produce was brought to Echuca from the stations, hamlets and forests adjacent to the river and, in turn goods were sent back up the river.
19. Exit & Gift Shop: This is the exit from the greater area for both museum and cruise customers.
20. Steam Garage: Admire steam powered machines from days gone by.
21. Original Blacksmith's Shop
22. Freeman's Landing: Public viewing platform overlooking the river.
23. Old Woodturner's Building
24. Strathmerton Station: An original Victorian Railways building donated in 2003 to recreate the Port Station.
This building is the former Strathmerton Railway Station. There was never a passenger station at the Port, as this was a busy goods siding. Located a few kilometres toward towns stands the impressive Echuca Station from 1864 that handled all passengers. This sturdy little Strathmerton building was made at Newport railway workshops in kit form and assembled on site. At one time, buildings like this could be found on branch lines which served all of country Victoria. This building was bought from Victorian Railways and moved to Ulupna on the Murry River in 1986. In 2003, Gary and Irene Byford donated this building to the Port of Ecucha.
25. The Allison Barge: A preserved outrigger barge built in Koondrook in 1907 with a weight of 60 tons. It was owned by Evans Bros. Sawmills for some 10 years prior to 1958. The last year red gum logs were brought from the forest by river "Alison" was an outrigger barge - logs placed parallel with the barge on either side of hull were supported by chains from riggers laid across the top of the barge .
26. Wet Dock: Admire private paddlesteamers often moored here.
Location
74 Murray Esplanade, Echuca 3564 Map
✆ (03) 5481 0500 / 1300 942 737
Email Enquiry
Web Links
→ www.portofechuca.org.au/discovery-centre
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